AST Digital Magazine October 2017 Digital-Oct | Page 75

Volume 17
Secondary to that may be identifying the artful
concealment of prohibited items such as narcot-
ics and various types of contraband.
The ability to identify the component(s) of an ex-
plosive device remains the priority and requires
an extensive training and testing process if com-
petency is to be maintained.
Despite the dangers of having operators who are
not properly trained, many African nations are
gripped by unstable political climates and convo-
luted expenditure processes rendering their abil-
ity to gain compliance severely problematic.
October 2017 Edition
task of the operator that much more complex.
Added to that, are a variety of diversion tech-
niques that may be deployed to thwart discovery
by the civil aviation security agent.
Given the scope of complexity in screening for
these potentially disastrous materials, it is clear
that simply hiring someone and placing them at
an X-Ray machine with less than adequate prep-
aration is haphazard and grossly irresponsible.
Additionally, in some countries, the recruitment
process traditionally carried out by knowledge-
able advisors is left to third party organizations
and marketing professionals with little or no ex-
perience in civil aviation security.
Imperative in tasking civil aviation organizations
with security upgrades, government administra-
tors should be diligent on the search for a training
facility that can deliver an X-Ray screener pro-
gram capable of producing qualified, knowledge-
able professionals able to tackle the deficiencies
in their home countries.
The result of this disastrous combination creates
operators who do not know how to interpret the
images on the screen, nor understand the alarm
resolution process, leaving airlines and airport
facilities at risk.
Computer Based Training (CBT) with appropri-
ate software can prepare operators with a real
life mental image database that conditions their
reasoning skills to identify potentially danger-
ous materials in baggage whether carry on or
checked.
Another component of X-Ray operator training
should be procedures for alarm resolution.
Interpreting X-Ray images requires that opera-
tors be able to identify color variations, thereby
recognizing potential threatening organics, me-
tallic items, and chemical compositions. Alarms are issued based on the operator’s ob-
servational assessment of the item under X-Ray
imaging which may or may not accompany a
technology-based alarm indicator.
Inclusive in the search is the potential that the
components of an explosive are stored separate-
ly within the bag or in separate bags leaving the A specific set of events begin to unfold based on
the alarm.
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